IMPACT NEWSLETTER FOR MARCH 2012 (PART 2)

The Best Pen for Writing Notes and Underlining in Your Bible
by Alex Tran on January 31, 2010 (http://www.alextran.org/)
What is the best type of pen to use in a Bible?
Here are some of the key benefits: I’ve tried highlighters, dry highlighters, pencils and pens (ball point, gel, rollerball) without being satisfied with any for underlining and taking notes.

The short answer is pens which use pigment ink (i.e. archive quality pens).
Minimal bleed-through on thin paper (i.e. those used in Bibles)
Extremely fine nib/tip sizes (lets you write small while still being readable)
Water proof (accidental coffee spills anyone?)
Quick drying (great for left-handed people)

I’d prefer to write and underline with one size, so I chose a single nib size. I started with the 01, but eventually transitioned over to the smallest nib size (005). I came to love how fine the tip was for writing and underlining. If you’re going with a thinner nib, I’d also recommend underlin-ing in anything other than black. That way the color helps make the highlight stand out more.
I have been using a fine-tip Pentel R.S.V.P. pen for notes and underlines. While it has been decent, it pales in comparison to the Pigma Micron. Unlike the R.S.V.P., the Pigma Micron makes it effortless to write small, legible characters and consistent underlines.


 "Why Is It So Hard For Some People To Read Their Bibles?" I regularly hear of people who would rather read devotional books than read the Bible. Now I understand that when you begin wading through Leviticus and come to the chapter on identify-ing and treating skin diseases, it doesn't exactly bring great joy and warmth to the heart. But we need to remember that even that passage plays a part in the unfolding plan. All parts of the Bible are equally inspired, but not all are "equally applied to my life in this very moment. ... One of the things I do is make it a habit to read through the Bible once a year. If I simply read the parts I think I need the most, I will miss a big part of God's design for my growth. ... I think [Christians] just can't figure out a lot of what's in the Old Testament, so they just skip it. But it is essential for believers to get the full picture of God's revelation.
(www.edstetzer.com/2010/05/my-interview-in-bible-study-ma.html#more)

"The Book That Is Essential For Knowing God" You must keep hearing the Bible’s message to grow as a Christian. This means hearing it read and preached, reading it, studying it, memorizing it, meditating on it, and applying it. A Christian needs the Bible like a human needs food and water. The need nev-er goes away. That’s why Peter writes, "Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up into salvation" (1 Pet. 2:2). That "pure spiritual milk" is "the living and abiding word of God," "the good news" (1 Pet. 1:23–25). Can you say with Job, "I have treas-ured the words of his mouth more than my portion of food" (Job 23:12)?
http://www.crossway.org/blog/2012/01/the-book-that-is-essential-for-knowing-god/

Some Closing Thoughts...
In the prelude of For the Love of God, D.A. Carson offers the following observation:
"The challenge [of reading our Bibles] has become increasingly severe in recent years, owing to several factors. All of us must confront the regular sins of laziness or lack of discipline, sins of the flesh, and of the pride of life. But there are additional pressures. The constant sensory input from all sides is gently addictive—we become used to being entertained and diverted, and it is difficult to carve out the space and silence necessary for serious and thoughtful reading of Scripture. More seriously yet, the rising biblical illiteracy in Western culture means that the Bible is increasingly a closed book, even to many Christians. As the culture drifts away from its former root-edness in a Judeo-Christian understanding of God, history, truth, right and wrong, purpose, judgment, forgiveness and community, so the Bible seems stranger and stranger. For precisely the same reason, it becomes all the more urgent to read it and reread it, so that at least confessing Christians preserve the heritage and outlook of a mind shaped and informed by Holy Scripture."

I hope you have enjoyed your first issue of IMPACT. I pray that you will join me in a desire to know more of God’s Word… not so that we can brag about how much we know but so that we can know our God and His Son, Jesus, better. So let us pray for understanding and the application of God’s Word to our lives. Amen? 

2 Timothy 3:16-17 (ESV) [16] All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, [17] that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work.